Give kids a chance and curb their social media use

Hello, my name is Karl Terry and I’m a YouTube addict.

Florida recently became the latest state to restrict the use of social media by children. A good thing I think, maybe a wakeup call to all of us with a screen addiction.

If you read Tom McDonald’s opinion column in this paper last Wednesday, please indulge me as I plow across the same furrow. Hopefully I can make it worth your while.

His column was actually the second slap across the chops in the space of a week on the subject. A friend commented (yes, on social media) about a grandchild she had adopted and was now parenting full time. The child got in trouble and together with her spouse they decided to take his electronic media away from him for an undetermined time.

He flew into a rage for a time that made her question where her sweet little child had gone. After eight days, however, she said he was a completely changed child. He was engaged with the rest of the family, reading, playing outdoors and doing better at school. Wow, in just eight days.

Now this child was gaming and I assume not on social media but the result is the same as social media apps that become addictive to the point that anyone using them loses touch with reality and gets sucked into a narrow world.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis takes a lot of heat from liberal media so when McDonald began agreeing with the political lightning rod I was pretty sure we had something here. When he said social media and the pandemic were the cause of a mental health crisis with our youth I was certain there could be ground for agreement.

Congress has pussyfooted around the issue of TikTok being owned by China and all the potential data they might be mining. Instead they should be focused on the harm it is doing to the mental health of our young people.

Growing up, folks my age around here only got three television channels and there was only a couple of hours an evening and Saturday mornings that even had anything kids would be interested in being broadcast.

We should have seen it coming with the invention of Pong, Space Invaders and cable television — a new babysitter; an electronic pacifier had been born. Since that time, we’ve all read less, become less informed and lost our imaginations and ability to relate to other humans.

You remember imagination — using your mind to travel to other places.

You remember conversation — something we used to enjoy while having a meal with family or friends.

I’m no mental health expert by any means but I can see for myself how addictive electronic media really is. I’m equipped to deal with it (I think) but an 8-year old mind will be addicted in a heartbeat.

Let’s give our kids a chance and possibly look at legislating better parenting, especially since we’re now a couple of generations into the problem.

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

[email protected]